Ball State just got run off the field 56-3 by the nation's No. 1 team, and now a Stony Brook squad that's turned both of its games into track meets shows up in Muncie looking to make things uncomfortable again.
Ball State opens its home slate off a lopsided 56-3 loss in which its offense barely moved the ball, while Stony Brook — Ball State's lone FBS opponent this season — brings a defense that's already been shredded twice but an offense that's twice rallied from big deficits. The board treats this as a Ball State formality; the tape from Week 1 makes that number look a little generous.
Stony Brook
+Boyd threw for 298 yards, 2 TDs in comeback win over Lindenwood
+Has erased an 18-point and a double-digit deficit already this month
−Lost the opener 41-34 at Delaware State on a late TD drive
−Defense has allowed 73 points combined through two weeks
+Home opener for Family Weekend at Scheumann Stadium
+Heavy favorite against an FCS opponent on paper
−Managed just 89 passing yards and one field goal vs Ohio State
−Luster completed only 18 of 33 in his first collegiate start
Keldric Luster got his first real test at Ohio State and it did not go well — 18-of-33 for just 89 yards as Ball State's offense could barely move the chains against the country's top-ranked defense, settling for one field goal in the 56-3 loss. Down the road in Stony Brook, Quinn Boyd looked like a different species of quarterback, throwing for 298 yards and 2 touchdowns while adding a rushing score to erase a deficit against Lindenwood.
Both of Stony Brook's games this season have turned into shootouts — a 41-34 season-opening loss at Delaware State in which the Seawolves clawed back from 18 down before falling on a late touchdown, then that comeback win over Lindenwood a week later. Ball State's defense hasn't faced a spread attack like that yet, and Billy Cosh's group has given up 73 points combined through two weeks of its own, which cuts both ways for a Cardinals offense still finding its footing under center.
This is Stony Brook's only game against FBS competition all season, a shot to bank a signature result before Coastal Athletic Association play opens the following week, while Ball State is just trying to get its offense off the mat in front of the Family Weekend crowd at Scheumann Stadium.
Steady drizzle is in the forecast around Muncie on Saturday, which won't do a Ball State passing game any favors after it already looked lost in Columbus, but it could just as easily take some rhythm away from the shootouts Stony Brook has been trading in all month.
Ball State is in year 2 of the Uremovich rebuild after a 4-8 debut season, so a home date against an FCS opponent looks like the obvious spot to find its footing. The question is whether an offense that managed 89 passing yards last week can actually cash in on it.
